


Soundproof spaces

by queenofmahishmati, spiffycups



Category: Baahubali (Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-17 08:51:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11848152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenofmahishmati/pseuds/queenofmahishmati, https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiffycups/pseuds/spiffycups
Summary: A little quiet is needed every once in a while. (Modern AU)





	1. Chapter 1

"My mother warned me about you. She told me, 'be careful with that one, my love.' I should have listened to her. Today it's a broken vase and a trashed bedroom. Tomorrow?!" Bhalla was in tears.

It was hard not to roll her eyes despite the anger within. "Oh really? If you had only bothered about listening to me instead, there would be no broken vases or _tears_ right now..."

"Indira do you even care about what you did? You keep blaming me! Who was it that promised me she'd always stand by me, and acted like this today? God I can't believe you're doing this. Are we really fighting on your birthday?"

"And finally he remembers its my birthday!" Indira leaned back, folding her hands across her chest. It wasn't that she wanted to fight with him on that special day when it marked their fourth year anniversary as well. But after staying up all night only to end up sleeping on the couch disappointed and alone had her lashing out uncharacteristically. That too after she had missed him while he was away on whatever blasted business trip he had for over a month. Glancing down at the broken pieces unable to meet his eyes, "Its not like we can't replace them... I'm not sure about us though Bhalla."

He had kept arguing while she spoke but was left dumbstruck. "You, you mean..." he stuttered, and blinked several times. He slumped down onto the sofa. "What do you mean?" his voice had taken on an icy tone, and he wound his fingers into fists to keep them from trembling.

She knew his tells better than anyone and had to rein back her instincts to embrace him as he sank into the couch. "I mean we're drifting apart. For quite some time now to be honest!"

Bhalla leaned back, his hands dropping to his sides. He heaved a long breath and thought for some time. His eyes ran across the entire room, filled with their photographs, souvenirs from vacations, the space they had shared for three years. 'This is our home!' justified Bhalla to himself. He looked across to where Indira was staring at the ground. 'Well it's time we wake up and smell the coffee. I love her but I can't anymore. It's so taxing! It is so much work! How much am I willing to bear?'

After a few long minutes, Bhalla walked to the kitchen to pour out some coffee for the two of them. Setting a mug in front of her, he sat down opposite and cleared his throat. "Indira, can we be honest with each other, babe?" he asked.

Indira's eyes closely watched his move, widening slightly in surprise when he chose to walk into the kitchen instead of replying to the bombshell she dropped upon them both silently. After a minute of contemplation, she retreated back to the the window seat to look out at the city buzzing down below— felt even a little jealous at how it seemed to move on without a care about her suddenly unstable world.

She looked up at the smell of coffee and even the word of gratitude that left her lips felt foreign after all the words exchanged. Taking a sip, she placed the mug back on the table. It was too bitter for her. Maybe it slipped his mind like everything else had! Tilting her head at his question with a sardonic smile, "Why? Were you hiding something from me, Bhalla?"

He leaned forward, hands on his knees, a look of deep hurt and anger on his face. "You don't trust me? You think I like going on work trips for weeks on end, not knowing when I'll be back, and missing you every goddamned minute? You think I am hiding things from you?! You know what, fine! Yes I am hiding something. I'm hiding the fact that I resent your awful assumptions, I hate that you don't talk to me like you used to, in fact- I don't even know if I love you anymore! Okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?!" He was shouting with tears in his eyes, and after the loud tirade, he slumped onto the floor. The room was resoundingly silent.

Her fingers curled around her cup for fear of throwing it at the wall, or worse, his head when he began spewing those hurtful words. She had been suspecting his resentment for some time now. But it hadn't prepared her for hearing it directly from him. Letting the silence linger long enough after he settled, she stood up from her perch on the window and knelt down next to him on the floor. "Maybe I assumed things... but you never said or did anything to reassure me ever now did you? Relationships are a two way road Bhalla and I'm sick of having to be the one who always went out of her way to make this work— like last night when I had to plan something special for my own birthday only to be disappointed by you. But now I know where you were coming from... thank you for the honesty!" Indira placed the mug in her hand close to his feet before standing up. "I guess I should have figured it out from the bitter coffee!" Sending him one last glance, she moved to the coat stand to pick up her jacket and be on her way because remaining there might make her do something she'd regret forever.

Bhalla started to say, "Indira, no", but found that he did not have the energy to stop her. The only noise in the apartment was the click of her heels, and once that died away, he stewed in the eerie silence for an hour, unmoving and blank. Then the tears came.

He cried for two days straight, until there was nothing left in him to wring out even one more tear. He cocooned himself in his apartment, ate greasy food and washed it down with beer, wondering if she missed him as much as he missed her. He picked up his phone several times, debating the advisability of calling her, and each time put it down without a concrete argument.


	2. Chapter: 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To hear your thoughts in the other's heartbeats.

Two weeks. Almost fifteen days. They had stayed without each other far longer than that but this separation kind of felt final. And Indira could tell she was nowhere near accepting that they were over even when it had been her who had walked out on them that fateful evening. People around her were finally beginning to notice, which complicated certain things. It started with her colleagues at the hospital. The nurses were a worst bunch of gossips and soon her fellow doctors were stopping by her cabin to offer advice. After two days, she’d requested the open surgery shift to avoid answering them politely when all she wanted was to shut the door on their pity filled expressions. _She was not the first woman to be dumped by the man she loved a little too much now, was she?_

Then it had been her family—well, their family to be honest. With Baahu and Deva marrying each other, it was hard to stay away from Bhalla’s part of extended relations. She was just thankful to have not crossed path with his mother yet. But that didn’t stop the rest from trying to talk to her about Bhalla or even suggest to mediate between them. While Deva had understood once she had explained what went down, even with all the sniffling and her tears, Baahu was determined to be a constant thorn in her side by trying to explain why Bhalla was, well… Bhalla. As if she didn’t know! She regretted staying at their place but she was not ready to go back to their—his home either. In a way, she had picked the better poison.

Going back to their apartment would bring forth unbidden memories of their time together in that space. Times they were happy, that is. After one year of being in a relationship, it had become harder and harder to stay away from each other and they eventually moved in together instead. That was the first house they viewed together and straightaway knew they were home. The first year in their own space had been fun and they were more or less inseparable. But now that she thought about, it felt like some silly dream. Indira knew they had moved all too fast but it had felt right at that point of time. And not three years later, here they were. Two ends of a pole. One completely out of love and the other unable to find a way out. _It hurt!_ Even when she had been the one to take the coward’s way out, Bhalla’s words still hurt—

Her feet pressed hard on the brake pedal at the sight of the red light only to have the cars behind her honk hard. Grimacing a bit, she waited for the signal to turn green before she made her way through the street she knew all too well. And then up the stairs that still lingered with their ghostly laughter. She thought about knocking but opened the door with her key instead; only to freeze at the threshold.

Bhalla was sprawled on the couch when he should have been technically at work, seeing it was midday. _'He looks terrible'_ , a part of her thought before she shook her head at herself. Two weeks had gone by and Indira was tired of waiting to hear from him which in hindsight felt kind of stupid seeing it was _he_ who said he no longer loved her. Gathering every bit of courage, Indira stepped in clearing her throat to get his attention. "Um... hey!"

Bhalla stared back at her, emotionless. He blinked rapidly a few times, and when it became clear to him this wasn't an alcohol-induced hallucination, he sat up cautiously. Seeing her waver in the doorway, he cleared his throat and stood up. Not knowing what he was supposed to do, or what she was going to do, he settled on making some coffee as a neutral action. He waved her in and wandered off in the direction of the kitchen.

Indira let the door shut behind her softly as she watched him move around aimlessly. She almost felt bad for barging in without a word of warning. Her gaze wavered between their bedroom where most of her things were, to him once again in the kitchen switching on the coffee pot. Three seconds later, she marched in to take the coffee powder from his hands and set about preparing the drink. “You’re not very good at this. Let me!” was her only response as she milled around making it the way he preferred, before placing the steaming mug before him. “I came to pick up my stuff and thought you’d be out… working.” she added as an after thought.

"Yeah, um, didn't go." He shoved his hands in his pockets as he looked at the fridge, the stove, the floor- anywhere but her. "I'm on a break. Until I... until this..." he trailed off uncertainly.

She sighed before pressing her palms on the table as he decidedly kept looking away from her. “Did you even eat? Or bathe? You look terrible.” That was quite rude given everything that had happened, but anything to make him look at her even once. She needed to know that she wasn't alone in this suffering! And unlike whatever he thought about himself, his eyes were always a dead giveaway.

"You look as pretty as ever." The words left his mouth before he could think twice. ' _God, Bhalla, get a hold of yourself. No flirting with exes! Devasena taught us that rule and she'll kick your ass if you don't behave_ ' he chided himself. "I mean, yeah, I'm good. I'm okay." He opened the fridge and rearranged a few things, ducking his head and hoping she left soon. _'Or do you want her to stay?_ ' he thought again. _'I would want her to stay forever_ ' piped up a small voice in his head.

Her lips lifted up in a smile before she could stop herself causing her to look up at him in horror, only to breathe in relief when his head was still buried deep inside the fridge. She took a moment to reconsider everything that had brought them here. And remembered how Baahu had tried to tell her over and over again how talking simply solved issues. Making up her mind, she leaned on the refrigerator's door to get his attention once again. “Why don’t you go wash yourself and I’ll make us something to eat? We need to talk, Bhalla.”

His fingers shook where they were reaching for a container. Not believing what was happening, and not daring to hope, he stood up slowly and left the kitchen without a word.

He mechanically picked up a towel and got under the shower. Standing under the searing heat, he scrubbed hard at himself, letting the steam envelope him in a smog. With his eyes closed, he scratched his arms, and stretched well, breaking the exhaustion of his muscles. He could hear sounds from the kitchen, and his thoughts flitted from the kitchen to Indira to the impending conversation. He braced himself against the tiles and breathed in deep. 'Don't think, don't think, let it play out, don't think' Bhalla instructed himself. Letting the heat sweat him out, he picked up a razor and shaved his days-old stubble, and shampooed his hair until he looked better than he felt. He stepped out of the bathroom in a towel and hoped he had some decent clothes lying in his wardrobe. He wanted to look decent, his girl deserved better than a slob. Catching himself, he shook his head. _'Look at you Bhalla. Calling her "Your girl"! Oh you're in so deep, you're going to be so screwed.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you could go back and read the first chapter once again cause it has been extended a bit— thank you!!


	3. To get to the other side

After one quick look into the fridge and its sparse content, Indira settled on making some Spanish tortilla. It stung a bit that he would take so little care of himself in her absence. She trashed the alcohol bottles lying about and was setting the table by the time he stepped back into the kitchen. He looked far better than that noon when she first laid eyes on him, and that instantly made her feel better. “Now who’s pretty?” She teased to ease them both into the situation. “We should eat before the food goes cold!”

Bhalla could not resist sneaking glances at her as they ate. The silence was no longer oppressive; it was slowly settling into a companionable sort of quiet, the kind they used to have on Saturday mornings as they relaxed after a heavy work-week and looked forward to spending time with each other. Bhalla was nostalgic for that friendship, and realised he wanted it again.

She was quickly done with her food, a force of habit due to the demands of her job and so slowly sipped on some tea as he took his own time. Their mutual silence was a welcome reprieve from the constant shouting matches these past few months. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine them being happy and oblivious as they were during the start of their relationship.

His bites slowed down as he thought about what most stayed with him about their relationship. Paris and Singapore had both been fun vacations, but he really only craved their sofa cuddles, morning runs and their 3 AM musings. He snorted into his food and could not hold back his grin as he snickered over the memories of their conversations.

His chuckle out of nowhere caught her attention and she opened her eyes, looking at him over the rim of her mug. “What’s so funny?”

"Nothing, um, nothing really." He refused to take his eyes off his plate. Pushing around his food, he reconsidered. Shrugging, he said, "Remember how you said octopi will one day defeat humans? Yeah I still don't think so." Gulping some water to hide his smile, he continued, "If they're so smart, how come they don't know to cope with every terrain, huh? Some rocky stuff shouldn't stop them ruling the world, right?"

Before she could hold back her reflexes, Indira stretched her right leg out and almost kicked him under the table. “The world is not made of only rocks, mind you. They’re a whole lot smarter than us humans. They _will_ rule the world one day! They’re just bidding their time happily, watching us make all possible mistakes…” She frowned a bit at that before discarding her cup and faced him without the need of a shield to hide behind.

“Speaking about mistakes- about that evening…” she held her breath before continuing, “You wanted honesty, and I, I don’t remember the last time we had a simple moment together like this, and it hurt me more than I could imagine. Call me selfish, but I want to take up all your time… and I wish I could. And after everything you said that day, I know I should apologize, for being so hard to love. I’m sorry, Bhalla!” Her gaze had slipped back down to the table unable to meet his eyes anymore or see the rejection in them once again.

Bhalla spoke quietly, "Me too, love. More than I want anything else in my life right now, I want us to be friends again. I want your support, I want to hear about your day, I want to learn about your feminist speeches, your conspiracy theories, your psychoanalysis of my boss. I want to buy you ice cream on Sunday afternoons and kiss you in the rain, and watch you steal my clothes... and I want all of that so much, baby. I can't describe to you how much I need you. Don't ever apologize; loving you is the easiest thing in the world. It's important and it takes effort, but it's _so_ worth it. _You're_ so worth it."

He had turned to face her fully, leaning forward and resting his hand in the space between them. "Do you think we could go back to being in love? I know I never stopped loving you, even if I said stupid things I didn't mean. These two weeks have been hell, but they have also showed me how much I love you. Do you think, we could, maybe, have our relationship back?"

Indira blinked, taken aback by his words filled with so much emotion. Here he was taking that extra step she wished he had long back. His hand was resting exactly in the middle of the table and it was up to her this time, whether she wanted to meet him half way or turn back once again to the misery filled life she led those past fifteen days.

The answer blatantly stared her in the face and her hand inched forward slowly while she spoke, “Say what you want, but I still think your boss a.k.a., your brother is annoying as hell when he’s all sunshine and rainbows!” Instead of placing her hand upon his, she swatted hard at it. “Liar! Lecturing me about trust while you were anything but honest!”

By the time she stood up to move closer to him, her eyes had filled with unshed tears. “Do you even know what you put me through? On top of wondering why you stopped loving me all of a sudden _while_ I was still madly in love with you, I had to sit patiently through everyone’s advice on how to make it work, when _you_ were blissfully hidden away from their constant judging gazes! You asshat, I don’t know if I want to kill you or kiss you right now!” she said.

"Kiss me. You can kill me later. Otherwise, if you kill me first then kiss me, people are going to think you have a nec…” The rest of his sentence was drowned out as Indira surged forward, claiming his mouth in hers.

An hour or so later, they were cuddled up together on the couch as War of the Worlds played- her choice. Indira knew he would let her win all the bets for another month or so after their royal screw-up. Neither of them paid any attention to the movie though, that she was certain of. Not even when her octopi took over the world.

“What if I hadn’t traipsed in today with that poor excuse of collecting my stuff? What would you have done?” She asked softly without bothering to lift her head from where it rested comfortably in the crook of his neck.

"Died alone and miserable until the stench of my rotting body alerted the neighbors to my unfortunate condition, and you went to trial for attempt to murder by heartbreak." He said all of this so sincerely that Indira blinked at him for a minute. Slapping his arm, she laughed and leaned into him as he broke into a matching grin.

"Realistically? Visit you at that sinkhole where you're staying, instead of _at our home_ , and beg on my knees until you took me back." He kissed the top of her hair. "I love you, Indira. I really do love you. I screw up a lot, but the core point is I love you. Don't forget that, will you?" He quieted down. "Took me a while to admit it to myself. Took this dumb argument to admit it to you. Don't forget it."

“I don’t know about me mister, but Deva sure as hell won’t be pleased with you for calling her home 'some sinkhole'.” She randomly pointed out as she pinched his cheek. “And please, I wouldn’t let you suffer so much- it will be a clean kill!” She dragged her finger slowly across his neck.

Stretching up to kiss his pout, she continued, “But I won’t! At least not until you spew something foolish yet again…” Her lips widened in a smirk at his subtle admission and her eyes glinted with more than just love as she hovered above him, “No! I will never forget this and I will not let _you_ forget it either. And I love you too...” She leaned to place a kiss on his forehead. "I love everything about you,” a kiss to his temple, “ _even_ when you screw up,” another kiss to his cheek.

She mentally praised herself for making him breathless from a few innocent kisses, before pulling back to sit on top of him with a soft smile. “Because I don't think I can live without you." A series of light kisses down his jaw ended with the last one on the corner of his lips.

Bhalla stood up abruptly, lifting her up where she was wrapped around him. "Well then, sweetheart, let's go live a little."


End file.
